Commander in Chief
by Konner N7
Summary: Commander Konner Shepard, Tali'Zorah and the Normandy have stopped a rogue Spectre, an army of Geth and the Prothean slaves, the Collectors. Now they face the toughest part of the whole mission, the Reapers. None of them realize that luck does come from asteroids Post ME2/Post H4 AU [ON HIATUS]
1. Prologue: Asteroids

Commander In Chief

_Chapter 1: Asteroids  
__**July 2185**_

**Lt Commander Konner Shepard  
SSV Normandy  
Orbiting Above Alchera**

It has been 2 months since the assault on the collector base and everyone had survived that hell-hole the collectors called a home in the galactic core, those things had taken our crew out from under our noses and Joker had to unshackled that damn A.I EDI just to save him and the Normandy from the Collector threat, those were hard times for the crew and for myself, but now after all I have done with Cerberus and even going to the extent of cutting all ties with the rouge black ops Alliance Corporation I have to hand myself into the Alliance Brass due to me being on trial for Killing 300,000 Batarians in their home space by sending an asteroid at their mass Relay to delay the reapers a few months so that I can get the word out to get ready for it but I can guess already that my claims will be dismissed by the council. Again. So as soon as I try to land on Earth again I will be arrested by my former Military group, *Sigh*, Might as well extend it as much as I can so I can stay with the crew and at least, Tali.

At this point the haptic interface on my cabin door turned from deep red to green and it opened when I thought I had EDI lock it and ask everybody to leave me alone for the time being,_ 'Wow I really do need to increase my security on my door don't I?_ ', As soon as I turned around I saw a purple realk of the Quarian shoot past the door towards me and my face beamed with joy when I realised it was Tali who had got through my security '_Oh, well never mind it was just the best hacker I have even known in my life but she still is my girlfriend'_ I thought intently, she immediately noticed that expression and didn't even bother warning me in any way as I was drawn in to a tight hug with the strong women

"What are you doing up here at this time of day? You should be commanding the ship and telling us where to go and that kind of… stuff." She expressed with a little intrigue, then she looked in the same direction in the way I was "And why are will orbiting the planet where I nearly lost you to the collectors?" She started to fiddle with her fingers in the way I knew that she was either worried or embarrassed, I choose the former and returned the hug and calmed her down by explaining what we were doing

"We are here because Hackett found the wreck of the SR-1 on the planet's surface and he want me and only me to go down there and place a monument to the crew that didn't survive the attack"

"But why can't I come down with you?, please can I?, I was with you when the Normandy was destroyed as well" Tali pleaded

"No, you can't, like Garrus can't either because I need to be the one placing down the monument and collect the Human dog tags"

"But what if you get in trouble or the reapers attack you or-"

"I won't be in trouble, we destroyed the collectors and the reapers are delayed for a few months because of the destroyed Relay. Look if I do get in trouble, you will be the first one to know about in. Deal?"

"Ok but I am really worried about losing you again, please come back...for me"

"I will. I Promise"

Once I got back to the ship I was first approached by Tali, which was to be expected after she has not been in touch with me throughout the time I was down on the crash site of the Normandy

"Oh My God! Are you alright? Have you been hurt? Please, tell me you're okay? Dammit Shepard! Why are you not Answering me?!" Tali sniffles.

"Tal-Tal-Tali! Calm down, I'm fine." I give her a hug, pulling her in close, I kiss her, on her visor that would be just above her forehead. "And I will always love you. Have you got that?"

"Of course, Konner, I know that." She giggles in her cute, perfect way, her shoulders shaking as she does so, her head resting against my chest.

"Konner?" she asks

"Yes?"

"How common are meteorites here?"

"Not one has ever been recorded, why do you ask?"

"I think another ship has crashed…They…It all happened so quickly, there was a explosion, then there was wreckage falling. But it wasn't normal, only one of the object flared into fire-"

I nod, figuring that if anyone was alive down there, they might need help, or it might be a new species, slowly emerging from the borders of their home world.

"Tali, do you want me to have a look at the crash site? You could come too of course."

"Oh, please, please, please!

* * *

**John 'Master Chief' Sierra-117 (Pronounced M.I.A.)**

**Location Unknown**

_My god _I have practically gave myself a death sentence haven't I? By setting off that nuke inside the mouth of the composer I have blown myself out of reality and into my dreams, but still, Cortana is gone, trying to shield me from the imminent explosion coming off the warhead, what am I going to without my A.I and most importantly my friend…Lasky

Suddenly I fall out of my 'Dreams' and see and red/orange flame build up around, "I must be free-falling…again" I instinctively shut my armour in to lock mode to brace for the sudden impact on whatever I am falling into and then the automatic thud of my armour cracking against the ground floor, I remember Johnson saying "You will land on something as hard as you one day and I don't like bits and pieces anywhere" I hope it's today. My one and only friend is gone, my species has deserted me and I wish for death. I curse Halsey for making me the way I am. I land, my shattered world shakes and I black out. Incessant dreams of Cortana plague my mind. A solitary tear rolls down my cheek.

I awake, the sun light pouring through my visor, the cold penetrating my thermal armour. I restart my systems; I have a look at my surroundings. All is covered in snow, a crashed ship lays buried, my armour beeps. The restart is complete.

"Cortana?" Silence. "Cortana, come in"

Still no answer, my augmented heart sinks further. A slight buzzing rings in my ears. I dismiss it as an after effect of the crash. The buzzing grows louder, more clear, almost as if a voice is talking to me. Not just any voice, a _feminine _voice.

"Cortana? Is that you? Please, for the love of god, tell me it's you!"

A sudden static _pop_ rings in my helmet.

"Chief? I'm here, don't worry, I'll never leave you."

"Never?"

"Never."

I breathe a sigh of relief. "Anomaly detected in geosynch!" Cortana screams in my helmet. A flash fill the sky, blue and red shines down upon me as if God himself is revealing himself to us.

"That doesn't look like a UNSC or covenant vessel there does it?, Cortana, do a system Reading of that ship that just flew off "Ship reads as Alliance, Turian, The SSV Normandy, none of these things match in UNSC databases, wait-"

'CONNECTION FAILED'

"The rest of the database is not responding" she responded with a heavy sigh, "Unless we are in another galaxy, the UNSC signal never gets dropped out like this"

"What about jamming?"

"Perhaps, but I would be able to get through anyway"

"Well as UNSC states, anything we can't identify is hostile unless proven otherwise"

"Well, let's get back to work then"

"Umm… problem"

Cortana sighs probably knowing what it is "What is it John?"

"How are we going to get off this planet?"

"Not the question I was expecting -"

"And where's my weapon?"

"There we go… You do realize that your stuck in armour lock?"

"Can you disable it?"

"Not from here, I'm running on backup power as it is and when Johnson and the marines were messing around with your armour when you crashed on Earth? He had to completely delete a part of it to disable it, Thats the connectors between the 'ON/OFF' and can only be activated and not deactivated, so we're practically stuck here till we get hit by something or someone takes me out of your head"

"No-one will be taking you again..."

_**A/N : There we go, my first Chapter on this fic, I don't know if I should include people like Rtas'Vadum(Shipmaster) and/**__** or Thel'Vadmee (The Arbiter) but hey I'll past that barrier some time (The Space-Time Barrier) :P**_

_**This story will (hopefully) last from the very end of ME2 to the end of ME3, Reviews will be helpful!**_


	2. Prologue: Shepard I

_**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys!  
20/9/2013 - Came out a little late due to Fanfiction . net being down  
**__**Nayfan N7: Yes, your little pun :P  
****anotamous/Guest: This will go over into the crossover section once we get past these prologue, then i Will put it there, Also sign into an account so i can reply to your reviews  
**__**Nomad-117: Yes, whatever, maybe... That is all  
**__**Lets get this shit going then!**_

* * *

Chapter 2

**Prologue : Shepard Part 1  
January 2185**

**Lt Commander Konner Shepard  
SSV Normandy  
Briefing Room with Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, Operative Lawson, Operative Taylor  
Orbiting Omega 4 Relay**

I enter the Briefing room with a slight puzzling emotion on his face about how and why Joker had let the entire crew be abducted by the collector attack that had been tracking us by the mysterious Reaper IFF that EDI had been installing into the ships hardware. '_The same ship has been dogging me for two years, even after I had been blown to pieces by it over Alchera?'_ Coincidence? Maybe… but sure as hell weird!

I don't even get two feet into the briefing room as a female voice explodes in anger across the room and I am taken back by the person shouting at the flight lieutenant.

"You lost the entire crew!" Miranda expelled "And you damned-near lost the ship with it?!"

"Yes I know alright, I was on this ship after all, during the attack!" Joker argued back with a hint of depression in his voice.

"Miranda!, calm down it wasn't Joker's fault for it, no-one could have predicted that attack at anytime"

The blue orb of EDI appeared out of the briefing table and its electronic voice stated "Mr. Taylor the harmful code that the reaper I.F.F. emitted was less sophisticated then the virus that the collectors used to track this ship".

"Well, Joker that was one hell of a surprise, are you doing ok? I said with the concern on me face flourishing

"There's a lot of empty chair in here" He replied matter-of-factly

The blue beat me to the next sentence "We did all we could in our power Jeff"

"Yeah, Thanks Mom" He replied with the sense of the sarcastic quote just hanging in the air

This has been one hell of a ride up to now, being on the colony that the collectors hit and not being able to save most of them in time, the bait The Illusive Man sent most our team into the hellhole of a 'Disabled' collector ship that magically reactivated when we tried to interface with the damn thing, _I will never forget that lie The Illusive Man told, for god's sake that could of killed us all right then and their, _Well now we have been attacked right under our nose when I was away on a mission. We don't want this to ever happen again let alone let it happen in the first place.

"Is the ship clean? We don't want this I.F.F to take hold of our systems again"

"EDI and I purged the systems this I.F.F will not be able to take hold of my baby again"

"That's very good news"

"Also it is fully online and we will be able to go through the Omega 4 relay whenever we want"

"Don't even get me started on you unshackling that damned AI" Miranda interjected

"Oh, Miranda, do give it a rest, he done it because it was the last resort" Jacob retorted

"Yeah, what am I suppose to do when collectors attack me, break my arm at them? Anyway EDI cleared the ship. She's all right"

"I assure you, I am still bound by protocol and my programming. Even if I were not, you are my crewmates and I will not hurt you" EDI added and I swear her Orb seemed like it was smiling at us

"EDI has had many more times to kill us then we can imagine, We need all the help we can get and now EDI can make decisions of her own, it will help in space combat" I expressed in my usual commanding tone

"Well, sounds like we have everything and everyone sorted to take on the collector base and to rescue the crew" Jacob went back to a calm resonance

"I'll give the order when I have checked on the crew and everything and I mean EVERYTHING is ready for the final battle"

"Ok commander, hit the Omega 4 relay when you want me to start heading there"

"Good, lets get ready then"

I start on my rounds around the ship, first visiting Garrus in the main batteries and he was talking about calibrations and 'Big Giant Gun' as the usual, Zaeed the crazy bastard he is still mumbling to himself about his time in the Blue Suns and the time when I (Reluctantly) let him kill Vido, ending 30 years of revenge boiling up to that point in time, Legion, usual standing around in EDI's AI core, after the argument with Tali about sending data from her omni-tool back to the Geth fleet which indivertibly sent her insane, it took all my persuasive posture to break them up and broke a deal with them, Mordin didn't want to be talked to because he was doing some 'important' research and didn't want to be bothered, I'm guessing that he was working on the cure that we got the data for from Maelon, 'But why?, I thought that Mordin was for the genophage?' Meh none of my business.

Kasumi was no-where to be seen as usual because of her stealthy nature, she will eventually show up when I last think of it, Grunt started to pay up again and almost tried to crack the cargo hold glass again before I had to put my body in the way of that hulking mass using its kinetic force against me. Thanks to Cerberus for the implants that saved my life on way too many occasions…

Samara was meditating as usual properly because of the events of her killing her Ardat-Yakshi daughter (which is a tough choice nevertheless) and I couldn't get her attention with any use of my voice to get her attention diverted elsewhere, then again she will never her me will that powerful orb of energy encircling her hands and arms. _'I wonder if Jack can do the same thing since she is a very strong biotic herself'_. On that note I head down to the bottom of engineering without a certain person noticing my present… When I reach Jack, she is unusually calm state after dealing with her past on Pragia, oh well at least she won't be trying to rip anyone's throats out anymore (Miranda should thank me) so that is a plus from this point onwards, Me and Jack talk about biotic energy and if she could do the biotic orb thing that Samara does and the reply was "If I could I would use it to create an orb inside Miranda and expand it till she explodes" 'Oh great, thought I had that covered' I sighed and moved on.

Thane was sitting in the life support room and was as silent as ever while he was praying after he had just sent his son to do community service after he had just tried to assassinate a Turian politician but we put a stop to it, well unfortunately because I bloody hate politicians, and that he sorted out his son and now he is back on the right side of the galactic law

Liara had just come aboard the ship when she evidently heard about the Normandy being under seige and wanted to come on and help out where ever it needed it most, also she was over also to bring supplies from the drop offs she was getting because she was so powerful now, But she insisted that she will stay for the final battle against the collectors because they took the crew and because she was on the SR-1, they are her friends, and friends look after other friends

Miranda and Jacob were doing they're job right because they were getting ready for the final battle (albeit it was about 6 hours to go) so I did not want to anger the XO anymore then what had happened in the briefing room

Well that was everyone – wait…. Tali!, I use all my strength in my cybernetic body to rush through the ship to get down to engineering to see my love before we fly off to an every increasingly suicidal battle. I finally get down to the third floor and calm myself down as I reach the haptic interface of door to engineering, the door opens and I make my way towards the purple quarian and she instinctively turns around due to my panting and me pulling rank while around her without question.

"Shepard, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting everyone ready for the battle against the collectors?"

"I didn't come down here to give you orders, I came down to speak to you" I reply with a grin spreading across my face

"Really? Wow I didn't expect you to take this relationship this seriously, I can't thank you for all the lovely things you have said to me" Her fingers had started fidgeting as per usual "But if you are interested in something…someone else. Not that I'm complaining

"Hang on Tali are you saying that I would leave you with no notice?" The Shepard grin slowly disappearing -

"Well… Yes and… are you going to answer my question?"

"Why would I be interested in anyone else but you, you are beautiful, even with your suit on and I bet you are more gorgeous underneath" The grin widened even more.

"Well I wouldn't say that in that context, what if I am not as what you think I am?" Her voice uncertain

"And what do you think would happen, you are the one with the face, not me"

"Well if I'm not up to scratch for you, you could just go with Liara or Miranda"

"Hang on... you are saying that i would get rid of you for either of them two? Hell no."

"Good" she nodded her head in admiration

"And i will like to see whats under here" I knock her faceplate with my knuckles "But only if its safe and you of all people are safe"

"Of course, i wouldn't even dream what would happen if i didn't take precautions"

"Well I'll see you later then" I wave off and go up to the CIC

"Joker!, set a course for the Omega 4 Relay"

"Aye, Aye Commander, we will reach orbit with the relay in approximately 5 hours" He said with a professional voice

"Good"

I walk off the mantle of the CIC galaxy map and start my way towards the elevator

"Kelly, tell Tali to meet me in my cabin in 10 minutes"

"Ok... Message sent, she replied with 'see you soon then'"

_'That was a good answer, she actually believes this can happen!'_, My face beams with joy

As I sit down to start reading over my mails, the purple Realk of a Quarian pokes into my room without a sound, trying to creep up on me and is moving towards my imposing figure, I turn around with mock shock as I notice her fingers are fidgeting again.

"Damn... well i have taken some antibiotics and some immuno-boosters as well as some herbal supplements to bolster my immune system"

I'd started to walk towards her and her voice started to stutter even more than it use to, I'm guessing this is an very personal matter to her, letting anyone but her close family see her is an very embarrassing to her ans she is very indecisive about the matter. But hopefully she can pull up enough courage for me.

"I was going to have brought some music"

'That would of been nice' I thought

"But i didn't know what you'd liked"

'Oh shit, I should talk more about ourselves some time' I put in my mind but was pushed back when we kept talking

"...and I'm babbling like an idiot"

"Don't worry about it. Come here"

We had started an embrace that could of lasted a lifetime, neither of us wanted to let go of this moment, it was so mesmerizing of a sight for the two of us, we eventually broke from it and sat down on the bed

"I just don't want to... I want this to work. I thought it through. I've minimized the risks. But I'm still really nervous" She starts to stutter even more.

"Don't be I'm here for you and i won't do anything to you that will hurt you and i won't take the risk unless you are certain it is safe for the two of us"

"Yeah, Mordin has been working on a serum for me so that the risks of getting an infection and near to nothing"

'So that was what Mordin was doing when he buzzed me out of his lab'

"And i am still worried after what will happen if it doesn't work. And I'm still talking aren't I?, it's like a defense mechanism and it is stupid and... people who... who can just see the helmet can't see my expression" I make my way closer to her visor "So I have to make it clear what what I'm" I start unlocking the visor, a sign that she trusts me because she hasn't made an attempt to stop me at any rate "I'm feeling"

My heart stops for a few seconds to take in the thing of beauty in front of me, I try to say that she id the most prettiest girl I've any seen before i got pounch by my Quarian girlfriend and everything fell into a blur that night


	3. Prologue: Shepard II

**_A/N Yes, hello again my readers/reviewers!_**  
**_Nomad-117 - No need to apologize, misunderstanding is the key to understanding!_**

**_Anyway, please send me a PM if you see any mistakes of any kind because i feel like this one was sporadic and I was distracted half the time i was doing this :P_**

* * *

Commander in Chief

Chapter 3

Prologue: Shepard Part II

**Lt Commander Konner Shepard**

**Normandy SR-2**

**Orbiting close to the Omega 4 Relay**

I woke up after the blur of last night and I see the quarian engineer standing up and I hear a faint hiss of air being vacuumed into someplace else, she was putting her suit back on in pieces, well, then again the pieces are all over the place inside my.. our cabin "Tali? Are you ok?" I stated, still my eyes squinting against the light of the cabin blinding me.

"Shepard, I am all right, I just have a slight cough and my sinuses are blocked with  
something I can't even describe"

"Well… did you like it?

"I would trade anything I own to have that experience again we had last night and…. It was totally worth it!"

"Glad to hear it, lets go and get ready for the day ahead of us, I don't want to come back to an empty bed do I?" I breach a grin spreading across my face and tap beside me to indicate where Tali should be when we get back, she acknowledged my point

and walked over to the other side of the bed and lied down next to me.

At that moment, neither of us wanted to do anything but stare into each others eyes and Tali glowing orbs put me in such a trance that when it was broken I was surprised that I was awake when that electronic voice broke in to our serenity.

"Commander, the team is well rested and is at general station waited for orders"

"Tell them to be ready in 10 minutes" I replied back to EDI without taking my eyes off the Quarian before me

"Will do" It replied "May I ask you a question Commander?" her voice as monotone as ever

"Ok EDI, shoot" I said back hoping it will understand

"How does shooting help with answering a question?"

"Don't worry ill explain later if I get the time" a simple sigh amitted from my mouth

"Do you want me to keep the relationship with Engineer Zorah confidential?

"It Tali by the way EDI" The quarian interjected, beating me to the answer while getting her suit on piece by piece

"Well, yes EDI, until the mission is over try and keep as tight lipped as you can"

"Ok, I will try" the AI replied, _I swear that if she had a face she would have a sly smile_

"Good" I reply with a relieved sigh "Tali, lets get ready for the mission ahead and meet Joker on the bridge"

"Lets get a move on then, you have a lot on display there" she said in a teasing tone, I look down at myself and reply with a sheepish grin

"Oh, har…..har

I step out the elevator with my N7 heavy armour strapped on and ready for the next encounter with the damn collectors, as I start my way towards the cockpit Kasumi comes out of nowhere and ambushes me with a sly grin "Jesus, Kasumi, are you ever doing to stop doing that?

Ignoring my question she replies with" So, Shep, another suicide mission for the record books?

Tali beat me to the serious question with a less than serious answer

"Well…Kasumi when you have been with Shepard long enough you start not to count these things that happen every other mission!"

"Well that was the answer but you're answer was less then complicated and more cute" I stated as Kasumi started to walk with us towards the cockpit

"Joker! How you doing up here?"

"Well other then trying the keep this ship afloat with barely any crew on it, I'm surprised that we haven't blown up yet do to a power draw problem or something as simple as that-"

"You've had me in engineering all the time since the whole crew is gone taking care of the Normandy!" Tali cut off Joker

"I wouldn't be complaining if you weren't away from your station for the last few hours!" Joker sternly replied at her, when that comment happened Kasumi had started the speak but then met my gaze and snapped her mouth shut as fast as she had started

"That is not up to debate, just get us close the relay"

"Aye Aye Commander"

"EDI! Activate the IFF!"

"IFF is in commission"

"Good" I put my finger up to my ear for the comms headset "Everyone report in"

"First Operative Lawson here"

"Second Officer Taylor here"

"Archangel on standby, ready for mid-battle Calibrations"

"Mercenary Massani here"

"Kasumi here" 'She goddamn snuck up on me again!'

"Urdnot Grunt ready for the blood rage!" 'I can hear his fist smashing together from up here'

"Justicar Samara here, mind pure, body ready"

"Jack here ready for the shitstorm"

"Scientist Solus ready"

"Liara here and ready"

"This Legion of units is for combat"

"Assassin Krios hiding in the shadows

"Zorah here ready for combat" Soon as she said that she pumped the useless thermal mag out of her Geth plasma shotgun and replacing it, this brought a smile to my face as I knew she would be ready for this kind of situation

"All right Joker it all you now" I said to the pilot concentrating on the relay ahead

"No pressure then? He returned with a sarcastic tone, after a few seconds, he added "10 seconds out from the relay Commander"

Without any time to respond to that EDI chimed in with "IFF signal received, relay plotting the alternate route"

Over the comms, Jacob reported in "Sir, the Core has just lit up like a Christmas tree!"

"Dampen Heat EDI!" Joker shouted

EDI replied "We have hit the relay, brace for deceleration"

"Holy Shit!" Was the only word that came out of Jokers mouth

The Normandy had just come out of FTL speed and has now entered a graveyard of ship.

"Some of these ship look centuries, millions of years old" I gasped while looking at the dead zone of the ships

The Normandy lurches in many directions just to stay out of the way of debris that is floating around aimlessly, risking anything more than a skim was too dangerous, the new Normandy was much bigger and stronger but it was less manoeuvrable than the smaller SR-1, then suddenly a stray piece of debris starts ominously moving towards the Normandy, when it started to get ever so closer to the ship it flared to life with a red glow similar to sovereign's particle beam and started flying towards us with the reddish glow starting to appears around the bow of the object, then the particle beam started to scream around the ship, trying to find a weak spot in the armour like the old Normandy had.

I had to thank Jacob for persuading me to upgrade the armour for the future missions

As if on cue, Miranda pops in "Glad we upgraded the armour, it will sure help us from now forward"

As soon as the damage noise had past, there was a sharp jolt as the Normandy pulsated forward with a sharp bang,

"Breach in the Cargo deck, enemy ship is now invading the cargo deck"

"What?! I thought that thing was a fighter, not a boarding ship!"

"Yes, it has uncoupled itself from its shell and destroying the Normandy from the inside"

"Ok, EDI, tell Garrus and Grunt to meet me in the elevator now, that thing looks like pure armour"

"Message sent, they are waiting on deck 3 for pickup" The monotone voice came back

I make my way to the elevator and send it down to the cargo deck while collecting Garrus and Grunt on Deck 3, as soon as the elevator got to deck 5 the doors open and we start to stare the 'Oculus' as my HUD calls it, its beam charged up and was about to fire upon the squad

"MOVE NOW, GET TO COVER!" I shouted at the top of my voice

My squad ducked, dived or rolled out the way of the red particle beam hitting the back wall of the elevator, we start to shuffle around to find cover while Grunt was being… well… Grunt, staying out of cover and charging the enemy head on no matter if it was a flying, metal, orb with particle beams

"Shepard!" I turn my head to see Garrus calling with his head pointing in my

Direction, I nod in acknowledgement to his call

"Do you have your Cain on you?" he asked, plotting a plan in his head

"Yeah of course, just one problem, It has no ammo! I used the last one I could find on the reaper core"

"Well, do you know where any are then?" he replied

"No, I only grab the ones I can see" With that I pull up my comms and radio Jacob

"Yes, Commander, what you need?" he answers my call with the question

"Do you know where any Cain missiles are? I kind of missing some of them"

"Yeah, there are in the boxes on the right side of the cargo bay, I'll mark them on your HUD"

"Thanks, Garrus! Cover me so I can get ammo for it!"

"Will do Commander, Covering fire in 3"

"2"

"1"

"0"

"Covering Fire!"

At that signal I bolt for the closet barrier between me and the floating orb of death, Grunt still raging like himself and I find a nuke and arm it ready for the fire sequence, then I find a grenade launcher lying there on the floor, I slide it across the floor to where the hulking mass of Krogan, Grunt, is sitting behind cover reloading his Claymore after overheating to where the gun would scold a human hand, but having a redundant nervous system comes to have its uses. He spots the launcher lying on the ground and picks it up and loads to with the disc holding 12 shells.

"I AM KROGAN!"

With that Grunt charges head on towards the Oculus and starts spraying the grenade towards the giant machine which in turn, turns around and retreats through the hole it had just made.

"Well, he didn't like you Grunt, you scared the damn thing off there" Garrus piped in "You almost ruined the ship with that thing, you don't what Joker after you, Krogan or not"

"Well at least he got rid of it" I replied before things broke down between the Turian and Krogan "Anyway we need to get to the base, Joker can you get use out of he-"

There was another crash and the Oculus had made a new hole in the hull of the cargo hold

"Oh, come on!" I sighed and dove back into cover "Grunt, have any ammo left?"

"No, But I am Krogan, I don't need ammo, I am ammo"

"Don't go charging again, I have a plan"

"Is this one of your plans that 'could' kill us all?" Garrus moaned

"No, it simple, EDI can you create a force field around the interior of the cargo bay to say… withstand a nuke?"

The AI chirped in "Yes but only for a certain amount of time"

"Good enough for me, Grunt, Garrus get back to the elevator as soon as I launch this thing we need to be gone!"

"Yes, Commander, Grunt let's go!"

"Krogan don't retreat, they tactically withdraw!"

"Fine by me, but still, let's get going anyway"

With that, Garrus and Grunt ran headlong to the cargo bay elevator not even bothering shooting towards the flying piece of metal, they arrive at the elevator and I start my run towards the elevator with Cain in hand, but right as I reach the door of the elevator, the Oculus charged up its beam and fired at me, trying to stop my advance, but instead I get flown forwards towards the back wall of the elevator and lose my grip on my Cain ,'Shit that thing throws a heavy punch'

With lightning fast reflexes Garrus picks up the Cain in one fell swoop and starts aiming it at the Oculus

"EDI!" Garrus relayed "Get ready to put up the shield, 3 second countdown on Nuke from barrel to target", The Oculus started to charge up its beam, ready to strike. "Launching in 3….2….1…. FIRE IN THE HOLE!"

As soon as the nuke left the barrel and passed the elevator doorframe, a blue shimmer appeared in front of me, Garrus and Grunt. Then suddenly a yellow light enclosing a massive mushroom cloud appeared from the little 5kg warhead, the Oculus was imminently disintegrated and left a smouldering ash just lying there on the floor of the cargo bay.

I lay on the elevator floor gasping for breath. I feel the darkness overwhelming me

* * *

_**A/N: Cliffhanger! He-he-he  
This is the last one I have saved up so from now on it should be one every week**_


	4. Prologue: Master Chief I

_**A/N: Time to move away from Shepard and Tali and move into the eyes of Master Chief and Cortana, hope you enjoy this one, Reviews are a godsend for writers like me so keep them rolling in**_

* * *

**Master Chief Petty Officer Seirra-117**  
**Ivanoff Research Station**  
**Orbiting Installation 03**

Cortana flashes up on the holo-display, her image pulsating with the data flowing through her, her hands flying over a holo window detailing the station's defense system."Shields non-responsive!"

"Then get us a ship that can carry a payload, and quickly!"  
slowly walks forward, hastily stalling Cortana.

"Wait, something's…happening." Her face a mask of complete confusion.  
Time seems to stand still as everyone still alive on the station looks at the composer, even I feel it's power, radiating from a growing orb in the center of the Didact's ship. Within a second the orb expands over the station, agonizing pain racked my body to the limits, tears flood my eyes, and suddenly I feel very, very... human. The screams of those around me pierce my ears. As quick as it started the screaming stopped, and my world turned into darkness. I hear Cortana screaming my name, it gets quieter, coldness envelops my armor, it feels nice, welcoming.

* * *

I awake from my forced sleep, my body feeling like I was hit by covenant cruiser, and I've done _that_ before, I see Cortana sitting, crossed legged, on her holo-display. She looks so sad. I force my arms to push my body from the floor, and on to my knees. I grab my gun, and stand confidently. Cortana looks to me.

"I monitored the data pulse, I could hear them…what was left of them" Her voice cracks, I want to comfort her, but I don't know how.

"We got to go. Is the nuke ready?"

"Of course it is, I'm not going to let you down now."

"I know" I wipe my fore-finger and middle finger across my visor, letting her know that no matter what she did, she could never let me down.

Grabbing her chip, she halts my advance by asking

"They'll pair you with another A.I, maybe a new Cortana model if Halsey lets them. It won't be me you know that right?"

"It won't come to that" I say firmly. Nothing would take her away from me.

"I prepped a Broadsword in hanger C-11"

"Then let's go." I pull her chip, and place her where she belongs, with me, but she still had an uneasy feeling in her voice "Listen Cortana, this battle is not over yet, we will destroy the composer"

"Yes… it's not over yet"

* * *

"You do know how to fly one of these right?" Cortana's voice says into my ear

"I'm a Spartan…so of course not." I feel a grin spread over my face, I've always enjoyed these bits.

"Oh…goody" Cortana replies sarcastically.  
The G-force pushes me back into the seat as I pull out of the hanger, in the distance; the Didact's ship was opening a slip-space tear.

"Not so fast!" Cortana screams into my ear.

"You're an A.I, you can't feel anything."  
She stays silent, she often does when sulking. _Why is she sulking? Ill figure it out later_ I think to myself.

* * *

In minutes, I reach the Didact's ship, and slip under his shields as they flare.

"We need to infiltrate his hull, get inside and plant the nuke" Cortana reminds me.

"So just another day at the office?" I say, jokingly

"The only office you've ever been in is Truth's, and you destroyed that"  
"Oh yeah, that was a good day."

I slow the broadsword down, to where I can safely maneuver, in the time it took Didact to reach the end of slip stream, I only managed to get to the hull's weakest point."Cortana, is the _infinity_ close by?"

"Yes, why?"

"Patch me into the comms."

"And there, you're good to speak."

"Lasky, I might need some more firepower here."

"Chief! Is that you?"

"Do you know another half-ton badass super soldier?"

"Is this excluding your little helper in your head?"

"Touché, now, about that fire power?"

"Of course, but we're taking too much fire to get a clear shot, clear it up, then I'll be glad to lend you _infinty's _weapons systems but you need to get rid of those AA cannons or even this ship will be torn to shreds by hard light."

"Hmm… Gimme a minute"I smile wickedly, savoring the thought of Didact's imminent demise. "Cortana? I want the turrets on my H.U.D and some music in my ear."

"4 turrets found and marked, and no, you focus on driving, improve your non-existent vocal chords later."

"Hmph. Fine."

I pull up, barely staying inside the ships shields, I fly right over any obstacles in my way. Dodging blasts of superheated energy, weaving through defense systems, I fly towards one of the turrets, seeing an opening on the side, I quickly change course, my Broadsword is rocked as a beam hits me, I glance at my diagnostics.

"Damn, they took out the far left engine, Cortana, lessen the thrust of the far right."

"Settings changed to match." I pull around, and fire a round of missiles into the turrets base, seeing it explode, I run right through the explosion, feeling only a slight loss of control. "One down, three to go."

* * *

"Chief, incoming fire has lessened, providing fire support now. On my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark!"

"Thanks Lasky, maybe now we're even."

"Course we aren't." I fly right into the newly built hole, the walls start moving, I speed up, hoping to get it out of this un-predictable mess. The tunnel get smaller and smaller, soon it gets to small for the Broadsword and I crash, falling through the windshield and landing heavily.

I wake up from the sudden crash, jeez, this ship can repair itself faster then a Huragok can.

"Now what do we do?"

"Oh Cortana, I thought you would know me better. There never was a plan, but there is a plan B."

"Never mind."

I gingerly take the nuke out of its casket and put said device on my back and yank my trusty battle Rifle from my back and into my hands "let's get back to work"

I move down the corridors of the ship, the orange of it glowing around every corner, suddenly multiple promethean Knights sprung out of no-ware and the aggressors charged at me with force. This repeated itself for many minutes until I got to a portal system that resembles the portal system on Requiem

"Cortana, can you get me anywhere closer to the Didact?"

"Sure, if you can find any way of plugging into the system" I start to walk to the edge of the platform and this pillar rose from the ground and I popped Cortana in through my arm, not the AI chip, don't want to lose her again, then she turned into an orb and started to pulse orange and an ominous voice started to emanate from her

"So, this is the construct you deem precious and hide it away from me, such foolish measures" The Didact said through Cortana's orb

"CHIEF, GO!" I hear her plea and dash straight to the blue portal that appeared in front of me, I jump through and land on the other side and etch out a grin at the sight I see before me, a goddamn forerunner armory. I start to walk around it and she all of the forerunner armaments: Boltshot, Lightrifle, Binary (My favorite out the lot) and the Suppressor. I was about to pick up a Lightrifle and Binary Rifle when I came across the edge of something big, as I hit my head on it, it fell to the floor and a low thrum sound around the room and everything shook, it's then I realized what the hell it was, A fricking Brute Gravity Hammer, one of the rarest things to any human to see, it had a spiked end on it which symbolized that it was a high ranking Captain that held this weapon, I was immediately drawn to said weapon and picked it up off the floor and latched to my back (Reluctantly) in place of the binary rifle. I then proceeded to grab a light rifle off the wall ceiling with some pulse grenades and some more ammo for the Lightrifle, I still had my standard issue Magnum and DMR latched to the other side of my back

"Time to say hello to the Didact for coming to Earth first"

* * *

_**A/N: Life, Life is all I can say, it really does mess me up at times when I **__**want**__** to write this.**_

**Huragok:** (Latin _Facticius indoles_, meaning "Man-made character"), known to humans as **Engineers,** are a race of biological supercomputers that were created by the are the only known non-combatant race to ever serve the Covenant, though some are rigged to explode like suicide bombers. After the Covenant empire's collapse, those that did not flee or get taken by the San 'Shyuum, now serve the UNSC, as intended by the Forerunners.


End file.
